State outreach to local public safety agencies is critical to FirstNet, said company Director of Consultation David Buchanan in a webinar last week with state and territory single points of contact (SPOCs). “David emphasized that FirstNet is focused on substantive engagement at the local public safety agency level to share information on network planning, schedule, timeline, and deployment,” FirstNet Senior Outreach Adviser Kenzie Capece wrote in a FirstNet blog post Friday. “FirstNet seeks to schedule a formal Metro Leadership Engagement to dialogue with these eventual customers, address questions and concerns, and supplement the consultation that FirstNet has done to date in a meaningful manner. … SPOCs are critical to the success of these meetings.”

The California Public Utilities Commission announced hearings on phone number exhaustion and the safety of communications and interconnected infrastructure. The CPUC plans a series of public meetings to provide information and get feedback on the introduction of new area codes in regions using the 916, 805 and 619 area codes, said a Friday news release. Three meetings on 916 will be Aug. 15-16; three meetings on 805 will be Aug. 22-23; and three hearings on 619 will be Oct. 4-5. In a separate release, the CPUC said its annual Safety En Banc hearing will be Oct. 19 at CPUC headquarters and will focus on interconnected infrastructures. The hearing will hear from executives from energy, water and communications industries discussing “the manner in which critical infrastructures are interconnected, such that a disruption in one infrastructure may have cascading adverse effects in others,” it said.

Verizon got the green light in New Jersey for its buy of XO Communications and its wireline assets. The state's Board of Public Utilities OK’d the $1.8 billion sale, the BPU said in a news release Friday. “The Board found that the merger will strengthen the company’s product offerings, while improving its business customers’ quality of service under the same current rates, terms and conditions,” BPU President Richard Mroz said in a statement. The BPU required Verizon to report over the next four years and to explain any net loss of XO customer-facing jobs exceeding 15 percent, the Board said. Verizon is pleased with the decision, a company spokesman said. The Verizon/XO deal still needs approval from regulators in New York, Pennsylvania and Hawaii, plus the FCC and DOJ (see 1606270062). The FCC Wireline Bureau recently paused its nonbinding 180-day review clock on Day 86 as it awaits further documents from the companies (see 1607200079). Last week, the FCC approved Verizon's de facto spectrum leasing arrangement with Nextlink, a subsidiary of XO Holdings (see 1607250045).

New Jersey plans to begin its probe of Verizon service quality at public hearings Aug. 4. In a notice this week, the state’s Board of Public Utilities announced two hearings for 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at the Estell Manor Elementary School in Estell Manor. Municipalities in Atlantic, Burlington, Salem, Gloucester and Cumberland counties requested the investigation. Verizon also faces state questions about its copper and fiber-upgrade strategy in New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania (see 1607140027 and 1606010052).

The lack of telecom resolutions at the 2016 NARUC Summer Meetings is an anomaly, state commissioners told us this week in Nashville. At its Tuesday business meeting, the Committee on Telecommunications considered only two honorary resolutions for retiring staff subcommittee members Gene Hand of the Nebraska Public Service Commission and Lenora Best of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. There were no substantive resolutions about policy issues. "Let me assure you, that is rare,” said NARUC President Travis Kavulla of the Montana PSC. The Committee on Telecommunications is usually the most active NARUC group and where states tend to find the most common ground, he said. Committee Chair Chris Nelson of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission agreed it’s "highly unusual." Telecom usually has the most, he said. "I don't try to put my thumb on the scale on any of those, nor do I try to go out and stir up any resolutions. If the membership wants to organically bring them up, great." There will likely be substantive resolutions at the annual meeting Nov. 13-16 in La Quinta, California, predicted Nelson: "Not that I know of anything bubbling out there, but just based on our history, I would think so."

Pokémon Go players should watch out for public utility properties as they try to catch all the Pokémon monsters, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission warned Friday. The PUC cited “scattered reports across Pennsylvania” of people who are playing Nintendo’s mobile game trespassing and sometimes suffering injuries. “Some players focused on the new augmented reality game may wander too close to secure utility facilities, either accidentally -- because they are focused intently on the game -- or because they believe that some elusive Pokémon might be found there,” the PUC said in a news release Friday. “Additionally, the location of some Pokémon ‘gyms’, where players gather to virtually battle other players, could also generate concerns around utility property that is considered critical infrastructure -- triggering calls to security services or police.”

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International is partnering with a group of state lieutenant governors who support aerospace initiatives to promote use of drones to grow the national economy. AUVSI CEO Brian Wynne said in a Thursday news release that the Aerospace States Association (ASA) will help advance unmanned aviation at the state level. "Informing state elected officials about the benefits of unmanned systems and listening to their concerns and interest in this emerging technology are vital to enabling the infrastructure and public policy needed to grow our industry,” he said. The drone industry "is expected to grow our state economies, create over 100,000 high-paying jobs, and be a source of innovation and inspiration for our youth to enter the [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] workforce,” said Alabama Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey (R), who also chairs ASA. The release said Wynne will speak at ASA's annual meeting July 29 about Federal Aviation Administration recent rules for operation of small commercial drones (see 1606210025).

The California Public Utilities Commission should extend right-of-way rules of commercial mobile radio services (CMRS) to wireless pole attachments by cable companies, said the California Cable and Telecommunications Association. In a petition posted Wednesday, CCTA said the CPUC previously “recognized that ‘there is no obvious reason why’ cable operators not be afforded the same wireless attachment rights as CMRS providers.” It cited the state commission’s February decision. No material differences exist between wireless equipment installed on poles by CMRS providers and the facilities attached by cable companies, it said. Extending the rules to cable “will advance state policies intended to enhance competition and promote the deployment of broadband to the public,” it said. Last week, Wireless Infrastructure Association CEO Jonathan Adelstein reported progress updating siting and pole attachment rules in California as the industry moves toward 5G services (see 1607150055). WIA didn’t comment Thursday on the CCTA petition.

With numbers running out in San Antonio’s 210 area code, the North American Numbering Plan Administrator assigned 726 as an overlay area code, the Texas Public Utility Commission said Thursday. Numbers in the 210 area code are expected to last until early 2018, the PUC said. Under a schedule ordered by the PUC, 10-digit dialing will be required in September 2017 and the 726 area code will be activated the following month. From March to September 2017, people can dial seven or 10 digits. Also Thursday, the New York Public Service Commission announced six public hearings in the upstate 518 area code to seek feedback on whether to use an overlay or split the area in half to relieve number exhaust. The hearings will be July 26 to Aug. 4 in a variety of places, the commission notice said.

The FCC should clarify state enforcement powers in its Lifeline order, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission said in a petition posted in the federal agency's docket 10-90 Wednesday. The FCC should clarify (1) states’ role in enforcement and consumer protection pertaining to Lifeline broadband providers (LBPs), (2) notice requirements and (3) outstanding compliance plans filed with the FCC pursuant to the 2012 Lifeline and Link-Up reform order, it said. The FCC should recognize state authority to enforce federal and state law and may engage in ordinary enforcement activities and consumer protections even if the eligible telecom companies are FCC-designated LBPs, the PUC said. Alternatively, the FCC should at least require LBPs to provide notification and register with the appropriate state agency, it said. Notice requirements could be written like those for VoIP providers seeking direct access to numbering resources, it said. FCC action on outstanding compliance plans will assist the Pennsylvania commission in its monitoring of voice-only and mixed voice and broadband service providers, it said.